How do you define and describe the standard of Norwegian Forest Cat?. For this, in 1990 the Danish club Norsk Skovkattering published in its magazine Huldrekatten, the article written by the FIFe Judge Jette Eva Madsen (owner of DK* Felis Jubatus) entitled "Appearance Norwegian Forest. A Forgotten Trait. " Written in Danish, has been translated to English by Birgit Hartof, editor of Huldrekatten, into Spanish by Alexis Castro and into French by Marc Peterschmitt and it has been translated into German by Eva Ewald.. We have also followed the standard recently published by Andrea Duerinck (http://www.verenigingnoorseboskatten.be/) in 2015 (Thanks Andrea for your kindly help). She has been an independent judge for 25 years, and is currently working on writing the standards of all breeds in Belgium.

In the article were defined very well some of the characteristics of Norwegian Forest cat, which we will detail along with other general standard of the NFO.

Figure 1: Ideal Drawing of a Norwegian Forest Cat, inspired by the original property of Alexis Castro. Described body parts and some of its characteristics regarding coat (fur).

General arrangement:

The size of theNorwegian Forest catismedium/large,bonesand robust, strong constitution. Itis muscularand bodyis long andrectangular.The pawsaresolidasthe body hasbig roundplants inaccordance with the wholeskeleton. It is a cat that may take 2-3 years to fully develop, so it is slow to mature, so it should be considered slow development and evolution, both in body shape, as in his coat. It has a wild appearance.

Figure 2: Bailaor Aguafresca * ES. You can see the massive paws.

The back legs are longer and higher than the front, which helps it jumping, running and climbing with ease. Its appearance is that of a provided, firm, strong, solid and muscular cat.

Head:

The head isone of the mostimportant parts.Itis robustand its sizeis consonantwith the body.It has the shapeof an equilateraltriangle,that is, the 3 sides arethe same,from ear to ear, passing underthe nose.The eyes shouldarewithin the lineofthe triangle sides by touchingwith them.

It has along and straightprofile, no"stop" or breakstraight line, high androunded forehead, and a strong and prominent menton,orchin, aligned with theupper lip.At presentthere is a tendencythat the profilesaregetting longer, which breaks withthe proportionof the equilateral triangle, and may affect therobustnessof the chin, changing the shape of the skull.

Be carefulwith the weakchin and very long profiles,as those canproduceequallyweakjaws. Theseappeartuckedinwardprofilefrom chintocheek, and this effectis known as"Pinch", as can be seenin Figure6:

Figura 7: "Pinch"

Figure 8: Norwegian Forest Cat with "Pinch" .It called Desiré.

Figura 9: Inai de las Meigas *ES también con "Pinch"

According to the article "The NFC Expresion - A fotgotten traid" in itspage 3,it says that"all cats noselonghave roughlypinchBesttriangularhead shapeforNFChappens when it havea minimum ofpinch. "sothat allhave somepinchNFO. Sometimes whencatsactivate the musclesof the muzzlewherethe whiskersorvibrissaeare supported,can givethe impression thatthe cat haspinch, so you betterpalpatebones of the noseandjawto be sure.

The headfront viewshould keepproportions, asis the distancebetween the foreheadand nose, the distance between the eyes, etc.

According toJetteEvaMadsen,three importantparts of the headandface of aNFOarecrown(Ain the drawing) the forehead(Bin the drawing)and nose(C in the drawing)andkeepthe proportionsbetween them:

Figure 16: Drawing perfect proportions between the forehead and nose of a NFO.Leyenda:A: CrownB: ForeheadC: Nose

Figure 17: Eurudice Of The Cachouteba * Fr. Have drawn over the parts and the distances and proportions.

You cansee how thefront islonger than thenose,andcrownisbetween the ears.The forehead is flatateye level, but nevertheless is roundedbetween the ears, ascan beseen in Figures9 and 11.

Another importantproportions arethe distancebetween the eyesand its relation tothe widthof the nose.The distancebetween the eyesmust be greaterthan the widthof the nose:

Figure 18: Distances between the eyes and its relation to the width of the nose

Figure 19: Orbea Artemisa * De showing distances

between the eyes and nose width.

Nose:

As for the nose, should be what is called "rounded nose", the wings of the nostrils with its lower edge can be inscribed in a circle, while when it is somewhat smaller, no longer bears proportion.

Figure 20: Drawing a rounded nose

Figure 21: Hrívë Beruthiel Forest *ES

Figure 22: Drawing of small nose.

Figure 23: Eurídice de La Cachouteba *Fr

Eyes:

The eyes are large and open, slightly oval and oblique. The top and bottom lines of both eyes are a curved line without straight lines. The eyes are not sunken into the skull, and their placement is such that the distance between them roughly corresponds to the amplitude of an eye.

Figure 24 Drawing ideal eye in the NFO.

Figura 25: eyes of Orbea Artemisa *De

Any form or eye with different distance between them, is not a correct eye.

Ears:

The ears in the Norwegian Forest cat attend several milestones. One is the placement in the skull, placing their cavities, how wide is its base, the shape of the tip, tilt forward profile views, the depth of the cavity of the same and finally the length.

Location:

As forplacement in theskull,should continueequilateral triangleshapedheadstraight followingthe lineof the chin, cheeks and the outer profileof the ears, there should be no break inthe line.Failure tofollow the line, aretypicallyplacedvery highandmakesan angle tohorizontal.

Figure 26 Drawing the correct placement of the ears on the skull of NFO.

Figure 27: Bailaor Aguafresca *ES

However, it iscommon to findhigherlocationsof the ears, giving one aspect of"common" cat.In this situationthe earsbreaklinefrom the chin, appearing a horizontal line, as shownin Figures 25and 26:

We do not have example, we are looking for one that someone kindly provide

It should alsomeetplacementview from above,where they should beobliquefrom the noseoutward,as seenin Figure 27.Ahorizontalplacementtoois notcorrect (Figure 28).

Figure 31: Illustration of the positioning ears top view. Right

Figure 32: Illustration of the positioning ears top view. Incorrect.

Size at base:

Thebase of the earsis wide,as shownin Figure 29, while anarrow baseis not desired(Figure 30). Should bebroad at thebase,andshould be covered withhair everywhere, which will make them lookslightly smallerthan they are(andfor that reason,during the summer,those forests thatlose hairwinterlookswhich havelarger ears).

Figure 33: Illustration of the wide base of the ears of NFO. Correct.

Figure 34: Illustration of the narrow base of the ears of NFO. Incorrect

Inclination:

The earsshould preferably bevertical, ie, seen in profile, the endsshould be placedupward, not forward over its eyes.

Figure 35 Illustration of the vertical inclination of the ears of NFO. Correct.

Figure 36: Drawing oblique forward bending the ears of NFO. Incorrect

Depth:

The depthof the cavityof the ear issomething importanttoo, mustbe commensurate withthe size of thebase,mustbe profound, as shown in Figure32.

Figure 37: Illustration of the depth of the cavity of the ears of NFO. Correct.

Figure 38: Illustration of the depth of the cavity of the ears of NFO. Incorrect

Tip Shape:

Length:

The length is measuring the ears from the base to the tip. In how much of what should measure, it is not said anything in any official standard. Perhaps we should think about the cold weather in which live this race, and the logical is to believe that there has not extremely long ears, to prevent heat loss and freezing them, as Edith Uhía has said at one time, breeder of Jakobusland *ES. As the latest craze to take NFOs with increasingly long ears that seem Oriental cats is not the real image they would have in nature, and perhaps should try to avoid.

We must note that it's known as "Rule of Allen": a biological rule postulated by Joel Asaph Allen in 1877, this rule says that the size of the bodies of warm-blooded animals vary in size depending on the external temeperature. In cold climates they tend to have smaller appendages to expose as little as possible cold and prevent further loss of heat, and in warm places tend to be larger as no matter how much appendix exposed to climate temperature. This can be checked with a cup a plate and hot water. If poured into a dish an amount of water, and the same amount in a glass, if you let it wait an hour and you measure the temperature of the plate and the glass, you will see that the dish has cooled much more than the glass as water dish has more surface water exposed to the outside environment, so the animals have to belittle their appendages, like ears, depending on climatic zones they live. A very illustrative example:

Ear hair:

The ears Norwegian Forest have hair, we have said that should be covered by the mantle at the base, everywhere, but also has short hair at the tips, triangular, called tuffs, brushes, plumes or "Linx tips "and hairs sticking out it side and inside the ears that cover, preventing these freeze ahead, as you can see in the picture 44.

Tail:

The tailis as long asthe body, shouldreachshoulder height, or "cross", butis largerbetter.It isbushy and hasguard hairs. They are long, strong andflexible, slightlyoilyhair. This is wheretheNorwegian Forestholds allthe coat, either in winteror summer.

Figure 47: Casiopea Montegancedo * ES. The hair round the neck is observed, hairs will hang from the trunk and skirt and very bushy tail.

Figure 48: Túrin Beruthiel Forest * ES. You can observe the but especially around the neck, shorts and skirts trunk.

Figure50:Patrickv.Tim-Est *In, inwinter hair(Author: Eva Ewald)

Figure50:Patrickv.Tim-Est *In, inwinter coat(Author: Eva Ewald)

The hairs between the fingers of the footplants can protected from the cold:

Figure 51: View of the hairs growing between the fingers of the footplants.

To know the history about the Norwegian Forest Cat, how it has now become a recognized breed in most feline of International Federations, Dora Antoniu, breeder of Elvenstar *GR, has made this magnificent video in English:

(Thank you Dora)

Acknowledgements:

We appreciate the assistance provided by our friends. Without them, explanations, help, photos and this article would not have been possible:

Aguafresca *ES: José Luis Ostos for photos, explanations, opinions and long conversations about the NFO in all its dimensions.

Las Meigas *ES: Luismi and Nuria for photos, explanations, opinions and long conversations about the NFO in all its dimensions.

Montegancedo *ES: Raquel Ortega, on its website, for your help and understanding.

Shadow Eyes: Luís Mateus for your contributions in creating the image 30, stop better identify faults in the placement of the ears.

Andrea Duerinck Its long conversations about the NFO standard, thanks for your kindness.

Von Timest *De: And her breeder Eva Ewald for kindly offering us images that best exemplified, and your explanations.

Drawings:

The drawings are inspired by those made by Jette Eva Madsen, at hers publication "The Appearance of Norwegian Forest. A Forgotten Trait. "1990, and in a drawing owned by Alexis Castro (Blind Love * Ar), but they have been hand redrawn by me, scanned, vectorized and edited for publication in the article. Use with reference to this place.